Machine fob extracting juice from fruit



Dec. 25, 1928.

' B. H. DIVINE MACHINE FOR EXTBACTING JUICE FROM FRUIT Ffiled April 30, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet anomdoz BRADFORD H DIVINE lrll/llll/Allllll/l/dillr/I/rr/l/rfi Dec. 25, 1928. 1,696,390

B. H. DIVINE MACHINE FOR EXTRACTING JUICE FROM FRUIT Filed April 50, 1926 4 5heets-Sheet 2 anventoz BRHDFORD H. DIVINE attorney 3 Patented Dec. 25, 1928.

J .vM E-P T T BRADFORD ILDIVIII E, or met, mw y ff f MACHINE Eon ExrRAcct-me rurcn rnom mm.

Application and April 30, i926: Serial 1%. 1os,s5 4.i.:-

My present invention relates to amachine for removing the juice from fruit such asoranges, lemons and the like and )artieularly of the type where a whole ruit is put into the deviceand the operation of th machine cuts the fruit into halves or portions and then presses the juice out-f.

the several portions of the fruit and this juice is collected and run into a tumbler or proper receptacle and a reversal of the mechanism of the machine allows the rind and pulp of the fruit to be readily removed leaving the machine readyfor another operation.

The purpose ofmy invention is to provide. a machine of the class described which .is substantial and strong in construction, simple and easy to operate and adapted to cfiicicntly extract. the juice from fruit.

A. further purpose isto provide a machine where the knife for cutting the fruit and the squeezing plates for pres-sin" the juice from the cut portions of the fruit are so connected to a single operating lever that one complete movement of said lever causes the knife to descend through the fruit and then presses the squeezing plates towards each other. against the fruit and asingle reverse movement of said lever retracts said plates and knife to their initial position.

Further purposes of my invention are to provide a machine which is strictly sanitary in that the operating mechanism is simple so that it can he very readily cleaned and to have the parts that directly engage the fruiteither entirely removable for cleaning or readily fully-exposed for the same purpose.

Another aim of my invention is to provide mechanismparticularly designed and adapted to provide the necessary power in the proper sequence for the different operations from the single stroke of the operating lever even when-operated by a minimum of Fig. 1 is a view mostly in central verticalsection of -a .complete' machine embodying my invention. IIS-ESGGII from the lefthand side of the device.

' Fig. 2 ,is .a left hand side view of 'the same machine without the lower part of its. standard and with the parts-in intermediateposition, the'near squeezing plate being ;re-.

moved. This view andzthe remaining views of the drawings are on a'larger scale than 1. l" v 1 Fig.13 isv=a;rear-elevation of" the central portion of the..machine with the". parts in the position shown in Fig. 1...

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on line .lig. 5 is a. rear elevation:oi.-the central portion of the-machine as the )arts are. sees when theopcrating-levcr is ally-lowere Fig. 6. is a frontrview' of; the front shield.

respectively of. one of .the squeezing plates. llig. 9 is a detailed sectional view througlr .Figs. 7 and8 .areoutside and inside views the left hand squeezing plate and its adjacent supporting arm. Fig. -10 is:.a left.- hand; side view of'the juice collectingbowland attached fruit sup-ai portmg fi ngers with said parts detachedfrom t-he -machineiand .Fig. .11 is a rear view thereof with a part of a small-bracket brokenaway.- I Fig. 12 's afrontview of the portion of 'the standard which removablyreceives the bowl. 1

.F1g.;13 1s a horizontal sectlonal view on line. 13-43 of Fig. 10.

F'gs. .14 and 15 are-front views of the squeezing plates: and their supporting arms and connected toggle joint links in the position thcsepartsoccupy just before; final depression of the operating lever and: at

final depression of, the operating lever Referring to the drawings in "a more particular description it will-be seen that the machine comprises. a standard 20,4}. juice collecting EbOWL or funnel 21,. fruit supporting means 22, oppositely disposed swinging- 6 -1y mountedsqueezing plates 23, a vertically sliding knife-24, a' single operating lever 25 and; means hereinafter more particularly descrihed fomconnecting with the desired result" and; sequence :of motion the said operating lever: and; ,the; knife and squeezing plates 1 The standard .20 preferably.- comprises a forwardly; extending .wide base 26-. .upon

which is plaeeda-memovable drainagetray 27 formed as. a; disk with an upward cir- 30 may berested during the operation of the machine. Anydrops-of fruit juice descend- .cumferential. flange 28 and upward radially- 5- arranged ribs .29. upon .which the. tumbler.

ing from the collect-ing bowl after the turn- 1 blcr is removed and-handed to the customer will be caught in this tray. As the tray may be readily removed and cleansed from time to time the dropping of fruit juice upon the base of the machine is practicallyavoided.

The fruit collecting bowl 21 is detachably supported upon the standard 20 in forwardly PIOjGCtlIlg position. The body cf:-thc bowl is circular in.crossroetio:r in both directions; that is laterally it is formed with a curve substantially coinciding with the swing of the lower end of the -"1ow.- Preferably the bowl extends downward around this hole forming a downwardly projecting-spout 32 in order to more -surely directthe fruit juice *into the tumbler. I y i i Opposite the bowl-2L the standard 20 is provided at' its forward sidewith a' flat face 33 and thereabove with two-oppositely disposed fiat faces 34 connectcd'byan up wardly facing shoulder 35. Between the faces 34 the standard is 'cut away forming an opening 36 extending into the hollow standard and at the rear of the fiat face 33 immediately below its upper edge is provided a vertical parallel bearing surface 37. At the rear side of the fruit collecting bowl 21 there is rovidcd a fiat vertical face 38 which will ear against the face 33 on the base. Upon the rear side of the bowl also is provided a rear'wardly extend ing block 39 adapted to project into the opening 36 of the standard and thereby maintain the bowl from rocking. Between the lower end of this block and the rearwardly exposed face 38 upon the bowl is a notch .40 the forward face of which engagesthe inner side 37 upon the standard immediately below the opening 36'and in an obvious manner removably locks the bowl in place when the bowl is shoved down. The depth of thisnotch' co-operating with part 33 of'the standard and the shoulders 35 on thcstandard meeting a corresponding downwardly facing shouldepvglipon the bowl form stops limiting the do ward movement of-- the bowl. Substantially horizontally mountedin the bowl are provided two fruit-supporting arms 41.

The forward ends of these'arms-are provided with curved portions" 42 with-the said curved portions normally extending downwardly and away front each other so as to form holders to receive the fruit F such as an orange or lemon placed in the device. In order that these extcndedcurved parts will not arrest the movement of the squeezing plates towards each other during the latter part-of the squeezing operation these arms 41 are yieldingl y and rotatably mounted in the-rear portion of the, bowl. The curved portions 42 are normally held in extended position by means of a U-shaped spring 43 housed in a small pocket 41- provided in the rear side of block 3!) with the projecting ends-of said spring engaging small pins 45 projecting downward from the rearwardly extended ends of the arms" 41. A bracket -16 attached at its'upper end to the block 39-and haviug'its lower end oll'set past the ends of the post and the projecting ends of the spring forms a guard for these parts and also serves to limit in-' ward longitudinal :mn-ement of the arms relative to the bowl. The pins 45prevmit the arms from moving longitudinally for-' ward. It will now be obvious that when the squeezing plates 23 are completing the squeezing operation the outwardly curved ends of the arms will be swung towards each other and dmvnwau'dly but will spring outward again to support the rind and pulp of the fruit after the machine has completed its operation and the reverse movement of the lever has removed the squeezing plates and the knife -from the portions of the fruit; i

Each squeezing plate 23 is dctachably mounted upon the lower and inner side of an arm 46 which arm is fixed upon-the forward end of a short shaft 47 as by said arm being formed integral with said shaft or securely fastened thereto. The two shafts are revolubly mounted in suitable bearings 48 provided in the standard 20 on opposite sides of the yenter of the machine with said shafts extending rearwardly of the machine and there provided with crank levers 4t) pinned or otherwise fastened to the rearward] y projecting ends of the shafts. These lllll llL".

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crank levers 4-9 extend upwardly and each arm has at its upper end pivo'taliy secured thereto a link 50. These. links project toear 54which is straddled by and pivotally connected to the forked lower end of lin l 55 by pin 56. This link 55 extends up-' wardly at the rear of the standard 20 and has its upper end in turn connected by pin 57 to the rearward end of the operating lever The upper end of the standard 20 is forked and receives between its parts the said operating lever a short distance forwardly from the rear end of said lever. In the part of the lever so enclosed is securely mounted a strong pin 58 adapted to slide and rotate in vertically arranged elongated slots 59 provided in the forked upper portions of the standard.

In order to allow of the ready removal of theoperating lever and its attached knife from the rest of the machine as for cleaning, the pin 58 is made readily removable as by said pin having a head at one end and having its other end pierced by a cotter pin 60.

Forward of the upper end of the standard the operating lever 25 is provided with a thin extension 61 projecting forwardly of the lever when the lever is in raised position. To the outer part of this extension is pivotally attached a thin link 62 which extends downwardly and has the greater portion of its length riding in a slot (33 vertically arranged in the upper end of the upwardly extending shank 64 of the knife 4 The shank 64 of knife 2-1 is slidingly mounted for vertical movement in suitablyshaped slideways (55 provided in two oppositely disposed brackets 66 forwardly projecting from the standard 20 and preferably formed integral therewith. These brackets and slideways are of considerable extent vertically and are located about midway of the part of the standard between the elongated slots 59 and the bearings 48 provided for shafts 47.

The space between the brackets 66 is of sufficient width to allow the lever extension 61 and link 62 carried thereby to travel between the brackets as the operating lever is moved to downward position, such position being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. In alignment with the space between the two brackets 66 the forward central part of the standard 20 is cut away from a point opposite the top of said brackets to a point below the enlargements carrying the bearings 4-8 forming a vertical forwardly opening slot 67 to provide for the upward travel of the rear edge of the knife 24.

The knife 24 is formed as a thin spadelike member having its cutting edge at the bottom and preferably having this cutting edge/formed in two portions or edges 68 arranged at an angle meeting at a point (39 at about the center of the knife with the two edges 68 extending upwardly at an angle to each other. The blade is of greater width than the fruit to be operated upon by the machine. The height of the blade is also greater than the diameter of the fruit to be cut so that after the cutting edge of vertically arranged ridges 70 and front elevation is shown in Fig. 6, is

mounted upon the forward edge of .the knife 24 in order to descend with the knife during the cutting and squeezing operation and so prevents any juice being thrown forward upon the operator. Preferably this shield will be detachably mounted upon the knife as by said shield having a slot 73 provided midway of its width and extending from its lower edge about half way up through said shield. This slot fits vertical grooves 74 provided in the knife adjacent its forward edge. As shown in the drawings this shield in the downward position of the knife enters the f()1'\ and side of the juice collecting bowl so that any juice forced towards said blade runs down into the bowl. Preferably the shield extends well above the upper edge of the knife and towards its upper end is curved towards the body of the machine. This upper part of the shield prevents any juice from being thrown out above the knife against the operator or against the operating lever.

Immediately above the upper end of each arm 46 there is provided a horizontally arranged guard 75 secured to the standard 20 as by screw 76 extending through an upwardly projecting car 77 provided on the rear side of said guard. These guards extend as close as practicable to the opposite faces of the knife and serve to clear any pulp from the knife as it moves upward and also serve to preventany upward spattering of juice from the fruit.

Preferably the inner face of each squeezing plate 23 is provided with grooves 78 and ridges 79 which preferably will be concentrically arranged. These ridges grasp the fruit more firmly and aid in the extraction of the juice from within the fruit. As shown in Fig. 8 the ridges are cut away at the rear of each plate and for a distance through the central part of the blade towards its lower side thus allowing space for the fruit-supporting arms 41 which come to be located between the outside of the fruit and the inner face of the presser plates.

Each squeezer plate is provided on its outer face with a downwardly projecting L-shaped hook adapted to be inserted through a hole 81 provided in the bladesupporting arm 46 and then slid downward ltHl in an obvious manner so as to allow the said squeezer plates to be readily removed from or attached to said arms.

The operation of the machine will be as t'ollo s: Assuming that the machine has its operating lever 20 in fully raised position as shown in Fig. 1 and accordingly with the knife raised to its upper position and with the squeezing plates extended to their outer position as suggested in Fig. 3. the orange or other fruit will be placed within the. machine upon the fruit-supporting arms 41 and a-tumbler 30 will be placed below the fruitcollecting bowl 21. Then the operator grasps the handle 82 projecting laterally from the upper end of the operating lever 25 and pulls downward upon said handle. During the tirst part of the downward movement of said lever the pin 58 on the lever will ride downwardly through the complete length of the elongated slots 59 at. the top of the upright 20 with the fulcrum of the lever at pin 57 which will be held for the time being from upward movement due to the greater resistance of link 55 and the various parts immediately therebelow forming the toggle joint consisting of crank arms 49 and 5t). .-\ccordingly during the first part of this motion the squeezing plates will not be started inward but the knife will be forced downwardly into and almost through the fruit; with the knife and connected parts then bein" in the position shown in Figs. 2 and t. Irom this point continued downward movementof the handle swings the lever 25 about pin 58 as a fulcrum (since said pin has reached the bottom of the slots 59) so that the knife continues to be forced downwardly until its cutting edge is complctely through the fruit: as shown in Fig. 14 and so that the rear end of the lever is now moving upwardly and carrying therewith the. links 55 and 52. This upward movement of link 52 in an obvious manner carries upwardly the inner connected ends of toggle. joint links 53 and thereby forces outwardly the crank arms 49 projecting upward from shafts 47 and causes an inward swinging movement of the arms 46 depend= ing from the forward ends of said shafts and so swings the squeezing plates 23 towards each other against. the fruit bringing the said plates to approximately the osition shown in Fig. 14. From this position of the parts still further continued downward movement of the handle to the final position thereof shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 swings the lever on its pivoting pin 58 and gives with very great pressure the t'inal squeezing movement to the plates 23 bringing them to the position shown in Fig. 15. The great force developed at this part of the movement is incident to the final straightening out of the toggle joint links as will appear from a comparison of Figs. 14

and 15. This lastv part of the movement of the lever, however, has ver little or no appreciable effect upon the position of the knife as during this portion of the levers movement the thin extension 61 is swinging sharply inward and so imparting through link ()2 almost no movement to the knife attached thereto.

It. will now be. seen that the single downward movement of the handle has operated the knife and squeezing plates withthe proper sequence of movement to first out the fruit and then squeeze it with gradually increasing pressure until all the juice is extracted therefrom.

Similarly a single upward movement of the handle moves the operating parts to most easily remove the knife from the fruit and wipe otf the knife with the skin of the fruit and then withdraw the squeezing platesfrom the fruit leaving the rind of the fruitwith its substantially dry pulp and the seeds therewithin upon the fruit-supporting arms 41. The first part of the upward movement of the handle moves the squeezing plates slightly apart to approximately the position shown in Fig. 14 so that the knife may be more readily raised from between the portions of the fruit. The next portion of the upward travel of the handle raises the knife almost to its upward position but does not swing the plates outwardly much. This results from the fact that during this movement. of the lever the pin 58 is traveling upward the length of the slots 59 so that the rear end of the lever is not being moved downwardly. The last part. of the upward movement of the handle however does move the rear end of lever 25 downwardly and so swings the plates 23 out from the fruit and also completes the upward movement of the knife.

V hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

'1. In a machine for extractii'ig juice from fruit. the combination of a standard, a fruit support, a knife slidingly mounted above said support for movement in a straight line towards and from said support and adapted to descend through said fruit, squeezing plates movably mounted at the opposite sides of said support and adapted to be brought towards each other against the fruit and an operating lever mounted upon said standard and operatively connected to said knife and said squeezing plates whereby a single operating stroke of the lever moves the knife downward through the fruit and presses the plates against the fruit.

2. In amaehine for extracting juice from fruit the combination of a. standard, a fruit support, a knife slidingly mounted above said support for movement in a straight line-towards and from said support lit) and adapted to descend through said fruit, squeezing plates movably mounted at the opposite sides of said support and adapted to be brought towards each other against the fruit, an operating lever mounted upon said standard and operatively connected to said knife and said squeezing plates whereby a single operating stroke of the lever moves the knife downward through the fruit and presses the plates against the fruit and a single return stroke of said lever withdraws the platessand' raises the knife.

3. In a machine for extracting juice from fruit, the combination of a standard, a fruit support, a knife slidingly mounted above said support for movement in a straight line towards and from said support and adapted to descend through said fruit squeezing plates movably mounted at the opposite sides of said support and adapted to be brought towards each other against the fruit and an operating lever mounted upon said standard and operatively connected to said knife and said squeezing plates whereby a single operating stroke of the lever first moves the knife downward substantially through the fruit and then presses the plates against the fruit.

In witness whereof have aifixed my signature, this 22nd day of December, 1925.

BRADFORD H. DIVINE. 

